Place-holding device for books



Jan. 9, 1962 w. 1'. JORGENSEN PLACE-HOLDING DEVICE FOR BOOKS Filed May 4, 1960 IN V EN TOR. WIZTE? 7. JQQGEMSE/Y BY 2 United States Patent Orifice 3,016,036 Patented Jan. 9, 1962 3,016,036 PLACE-HOLDING DEVICE FOR BOOKS Walter T. Jorgensen, 23 Matheron Ave., Baldwin, N.Y. Filed May 4, 1960, Ser. No. 26,815 Claims. (Cl. 116-119) The present invention relates generally to book-holdfng devices, and in particular to a device for holding open books such as paperbacks which have a great tendency to spring closed.

It is an object of the invention to provide a device adapted to hold books open in any position, without interfering with the easy turning of the pages when desired.

An additional object is to provide a device of the character described which will also mark the readers place when the book is closed and put aside temporarily.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the type described which can be sold at a price low enough to warrant its purchase for use with the inexpensive paper-bound volumes which primarily require such a device, and which is light and compact, so that it will be as easily transportable as the small paperback volumes with which it is most likely to be used.

A still further object is to make the device adjustable to standard books so that its use is possible with other types of books which may also have an excessive tendency to spring shut.

In accordance with an illustrative embodiment demonstrating these and other features of the invention, there is provided a place holder for use with a book comprising a supporting member adapted to be positioned behind the spine of the book, and means on the supporting member for engaging the book so as to secure the supporting member in place thereon. A pair of arms is provided at one end of the supporting member which are adapted to extend along the edges of respective opposite pages of the book, and there are means rotatably mounting the arms on the supporting member for adjustment to different degrees of opening of the book and frictionally restraining rotation thereof so that the arms can hold a given adjustment. A pair of place-holding fingers on the respective arms are adapted to extend across portions of the faces of the respective opposite pages to restrain accidental closing of the book and also to mark the place upon intentional closing thereof.

The preceding brief summary, as well as further objects and advantages of the invention, will be best appreciated from the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a book holder in accordance with the invention, with the arms thereof shown in a closed or storage position;

FIG. 2 is a reduced perspective view of a book with the device of FIG. 1 mounted thereon and holding the book pages in open position;

FIG. 3 is a section taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3; and,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a place holder device made in accordance with the present invention and designated generally by reference numeral 10. The device has a. rigid body portion in the nature of a hollow tube 12 which may be molded of rigid plastic or made of other suitable material. The tube 12 is closed at its top and bottom ends by respective plugs and 24, which plugs may also be made of rigid plastic material and secured within the open ends of the tube 12 by cementing, heat-sealing or the like.

The device 10 also includes a pair of book-engaging clips 14 and 16 formed of resilient metal wire and mounted on the tube 12 so as to project from the top and bottom ends thereof. The distance between the projecting ends of the clips 14 and 16 is adjustable and the clips are adapted to grasp the upper and lower edges of a book for mounting the tube 16 thereon. FIG. 2 shows the clips 14 and 16 engaging a book B at the center thereof with the tube 12 extending along and against the binding or spine of said book.

The clip 14 is bent to provide a depending leg 14a and an upper leg 1412 at right angles thereto. The upper leg 14b is bent into the form of a circular eyelet and rests flat against the top surface of plug 20. A clamping screw 18 passes through this eyelet and is threaded into the plug 20 for holding the clip 14 in mounted position on the tube 12. In this mounted position, the clip leg 14a extends parallel to the tube 12 and is spaced therefrom.

The clip 16 is bent to form an elongated stem 16a having an integral hook-shaped jaw portion 16b at one end and a bight 22 at the opposite end. The portion of stem 16a immediately below the bight 22 is bowed outwardly and the free leg depending from the other side of bight 22 is also outwardly bowed to provide a pair of spring members 22a and 22b which resiliently and frictionally engage the inner wall of tube 12.

In the mounted position of the clip 16, the stem 16a extends slidably through a bore 26 in the plug 24. The resilient spring members 22a and 22b engage opposite sides of the inner wall of tube 12 and are slidable therealong. It will thus be apparent that the efiective length of the clip 16 is adjustable, the clip being axially slidable through the bore 26 inwardly and outwardly of the interior of tube 12. The spring members 22a and 22b maintain a frictional engagement with the inner wall of tube 12 to retain the clip 16 in adjusted position without slipping.

' The position of the clip 16 in FIG. 3 represents a retracted position in which the terminal hook portion 16b overlaps the bottom end of the tube 12. With the clip 16 retracted, the over-all length of the device 10 is not appreciably greater than the length of tube 12, so that the device is of compact size for storing. When it is desired to mount the device 10 on a book, the tube 12 is placed flush against the spine or outer binding of the book and the upper clip 14 inserted at the juncture of the two open pages, as indicated i nFlG. 2. The upper end of the book binding is inserted into the narrow space between the clip leg 14a and the tube 12, and the springy nature of clip leg 14 causes it to clamp the book binding against the tube 12.

The tube 12 is made short enough to terminate well above the lower edge of the smallest book upon which the place holder 10 is expected to be used, as illustrated in FIG. 2. After the top clip 14 is mounted, the lower clip 16 is slid downwardly out of tube 12 until the terminal hook-shaped jaw portion 16b is spaced well below the bottom of the book. The clip 16 is then slid upwardly until the jaw portion 16b engages and embraces the central portion of the book binding with the free leg of the jaw portion 16b extending along the juncture of the open pages of the book. The resilience of the jaw portion 16b retains it in this engaged position. The tube 12 is now securely held in its mounted position extending longitudinally along the rear surface of the book spine or binding.

The adjustable nature of the lower clip 16 permits the tube 12 to be readily mounted on any standard-sized book regardless of its height.

A pair of arms 30 and 32, made of rigid, fiat strip plastic, extend radially outwardly from the top of the tube 12. The inner end 30a of arm 30 is rounded off to conform to the cross-sectional circular shape of tube 12 and is pivotally mounted atop the tube 12 by the screw 18 which extends through the. center of this arm inner end 30a. The outer end of the arm 32 is formed with an integral circular extension 32a which is offset from the axis of arm 32. The circular extension 32a overlies the end 30a of arm 30 and the screw 18 extends through the center thereof for independent pivoting movement of the arm 30 about the tube 12. Because of the offset mounting of arm 32 through its extension 32a, the arms 30. and 32 maybe brought together to the closed position of FIG. 1 in which they are located side-by-side and parallel to each other, with one somewhat higher than the other.

The arms 30 and 32 are adapted to lie along the upper edges. of. opposed pages of the book B in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2. Depending from the confronting forward edges of arms 30 and 32 at the outer free ends thereof are respective place-holding fingers 34 and 36 which extend across the upper portions of the pages and are thus interposed in the path of closing of these pages. These fingers are preferably thin, flexible strips of transparent plastic cemented to the arms 30 and 32, their transparency preventing obstruction of the reading material on the pages which they overlie. The fastening screw 18 is tightened sufficiently to frictionally restrain accidental rotation; of the arms 30 and 32, so that the latter will hold any given angular adjustment selected in accordance with the desired degree of opening of the book B, as for example the adjustment seen in FIG. 2. With the arms 30 and 32 thus locked in position and the depending fingers 34 and 36 interposed in the path of closing of the book B, selectedpages are spread open to the desired degree.

The lower tips 34a and 36a of fingers 34 and 36 respectively are tapered from top to bottom, and are turned inwardly, i.e., away from the respective pages restrained thereby. This construction, together with the inherent flexibility of the fingers 34 and 36, allows the pages of book B to be turned one at a time while the arms 34 and 36' remain in their adjusted angular relationship to restrain accidental closing of the book as a whole. The method of turning the pages is simply to slide the upper corner of the right-hand page out from under the fingers 36, turn the page in the usual manner, and re-insert the upper corner under the turned-up tip 34a of finger 34.

The fastening screw 18, although tight enough to prevent accidental rotation of the arms 30 and 32, is nevertheless kept loose enough to permit these arms to be intentionally rotated to different angular positions to adjust them for holding the book B open to any desired extent.

When it is desired to lay the book B aside temporarily, it is only necessary to close the book, thus forcing the arms 30 and 32 to rotate fully together. It is an advantageous feature of the invention that the place holder can remain mounted on the book B when it is closed, the fingers 34 and 36 then remaining between the facing opposite pages of the closed book to mark the place. Then the reader need only turn the arms 30 and 32 to their spread position to reopen the book B to the desired page. The flexible turned-up tips 34a and 36a will be pressed flat while the book B is closed, and the thin wires of the clips 14 and 16 will therefore not introduce any great bulk between the facing pages, thus permitting the book B to close practically flat. To further approximate fiat closing, one of the arms 32 is made longer than the other arm 30 so that the fingers 34 and 36 at the outer ends thereof do not coincide but instead are radially offset to interpose only a single thickness of plastic between the facing pages.

The fully closed position of arms 30 and 32 is also useful as a storage position when theplace holder 19 is not in use, the lower clip 16 also being moved to a storage position at such times by retraction upwardly as far as possible into the interior of tube 12. When thus arranged, the place holder 10 presents a very compact and transportable assembly. In addition, the place holder device constitutes a very light device to carry since it is constructed entirely from light but strong plastic, wire parts, and single fastener screw. 7

The fingers 34 and 36 are secured to the front edges of the arms 33 and 32 so that the arms will extend backwardly from the fingers to lie across the top of the respective opposing pages. As a result, the place holder 16 occupies very little additional space outside of that occupied by the book B itself when mounted thereon in either the open or closed position. To the space occupied by book B is added essentially only that occupied by the thin tube 12 along the spine and the flat arms 30 and 32 lying along the top. As a result, the combination of the book B and the place holder 10 mounted thereon is for all practical purposes as compact and transportable as the book B alone.

The mounting of the fingers 34 and 36 at the forward edges of arms 30 and 32 means that these arms are not interchangeable, i.e., that arm 30 must remain the left arm and arm 32 must remain the right arm. To prevent inversion of these arms, a stop in the nature of a flat block 38 is cemented to the upper surface of the lower arm 30. The stop 38 projects upwardly from the arm 30 into the path of the upper arm 32 to limit rotation of the arms toward each other. As an aid in providing for nearly flat closing of the book B, the stop 38 is so positioned on the arm 30 that when the arm 32 is rotated against the stop 38 the fingers 34 and 36' are substantially in alignment, as seen in FIG. 5, so that they introduce a minimum of separation between the facing pagesof the closed book B. The reader can therefore slam the book shut without exercising any particular care and nevertheless be sure that the place holder 10 will close therewith to its optimum position for flat closing of the book.

It will now be readily appreciated that this invention provides a simply constructed light, compact, inexpensive device for holding and marking the place in a book, which is adjustable to any degree of'opening and also to various sizes of books.

The particulars of the foregoing description are intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive, and are subject to a considerable latitude of modification without departure from the novel teachings disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of this invention is intended to be limited only as defined in the appended claims, which should be accorded a breadth of interpretation consistent with this specification.

I claim:

1. A place holder for books comprising a hollow supporting tube, a pair of resilient clips at the top and bottom of said supporting tube respectively adapted to grip the top and bottom of said book respectively whereby to secure said supporting tube along the spine of. said book, said lower clip being. formed with a resiliently compressible bight on the upper end thereof frictionally slidable within said tube for adjustment to different sized hooks and for holding a given adjustment, a plug securedin the lower end of said tube formed with an opening for said lower clip to extend therethrough but too small to admit said bight thereof, a plug secured in the upper-end of said bore, a pair of arms in vertically and laterally offset relationship at one end of said supporting member and positioned to extend along the edges of confronting pages of said book, a fastener rotatably securing said arms to said upper plug for adjustment to different degrees of opening of saidconfronting pages and frictionally restraining rotation thereof for said arms to hold a given adjustment, a pair of fiat transparent place-holding fingers on said respective arms positioned to extend across portions of the confronting open pages of said book to restrain accidental closing thereof, said fingers being flexible and having tapered, inwardly turned tips to facilitate the turning of pages, and a stop on one of said arms projecting into the path of the other arm to limit rotation of said arms toward each other and thereby prevent inversion thereof, said stop being so placed for said fingers to be substantially in alignment when said ofiset arms are rotated as near each other as permitted by said stop to allow said book to be closed nearly fiat.

2. A place holder for books comprising a cylindrical hollow supporting tube, a first retaining clip mounted on the upper end portion of said tube and including a flexible finger extending downwardly along the supporting tube and spaced therefrom, a second retaining clip slidably mounted at the lower end of said supporting tube and comprising a flexible wire shank mounted for longitudinal sliding movement within said hollow supporting tube and terminating exteriorly of said supporting tube in a bent U-shaped portion providing a resilient finger extending upwardly along said shank and spaced therefrom, said retaining clips being sized to embrace the upper and lower edges of the binding of a book with the resilient fingers thereof engaging and gripping the juncture between confronting pages of said book and the supporting tube removably secured along the spine of said book, the shank of said second retaining clip beign slidable inwardly and outwardly of said supporting tube to selectively position the U-shaped portion of said second retaining clip for engaging diflerent sized books, a pair of arms pivotally mounted at the top of said supporting tube and extending radially therefrom, means for frictionally restraining rotation of said arms to maintain a given adjustment, and a fiat, flexible page-retaining finger carried by the free end of each arm and positioned to engage and retain the confronting open pages of said book when the supporting tube is mounted on said book.

3. A place holder for books comprising a cylindrical hollow supporting tube, a first retaining clip mounted on the upper end portion of said tube and comprising a flexible wire bent to form a resilient finger extending downwardly along the supporting tube and spaced therefrom, a second retaining clip slidably mounted at the lower end of said supporting tube and comprising a flexible wire having an elongated body portion mounted for longitudinal sliding movement within said hollow supporting tube and terminating in a bent U-shaped portion providing a resilient finger extending upward along the elongated portion and spaced therefrom, the opposite end of said body portion being formed with a resiliently compressible bight frictionally engaging the inner wall of said supporting tube, said retaining clips being sized to embrace the upper and lower edge portions of the binding of a book with the resilient fingers thereof engaging and gripping the juncture between the open pages of said book and the supporting tube extending along the spine of said book, the straight elongated portion of said second retaining clip being frictionally slidable inwardly and outwardly of said supporting tube to selectively position the U-shaped portion of said retaining clip for different sized books, a pair of arms pivotally mounted at the top of said supporting tube and extending radially therefrom, means for frictionally restraining rotation of said arms to maintain a given angular adjustment, and a flat, tapered, flexible page-retaining finger carried by the free end of each arm and positioned to engage and retain the confronting open pages of said book when the supporting tube is mounted on said book.

4. A place holder for books comprising a cylindrical hollow supporting tube, a first retaining clip mounted on the upper end portion of said tube and comprising a flexible wire bent to form a resilient finger extending downwardly along the supporting tube and spaced therefrom, a second retaining clip slidably mounted at the lower end of said supporting tube and comprising a flexible wire having an elongated body portion mounted for longitudinal sliding movement within said hollow supporting tube and terminating in a bent U-shaped portion providing a resilient finger extending upwardly along the elongated portion and spaced therefrom, the opposite end of said body portion being formed with a resiliently compressible bight frictionally engaging the inner wall of said supporting tube, said retaining clips being sized to embrace the upper and lower edge portions of the binding of a book with the resilient fingers thereof engaging and gripping the juncture between the open pages of said book and the supporting tube extending along the spine of said book, the straight elongated portion of said second retaining clip being frictionally slidable inwardly and outwardly of said supporting tube to selectively position the U-shaped portion of said retaining clip for different sized books, a pair of arms pivotally mounted at the top of said supporting tube and extending radially therefrom, means for frictionally restraining rotation of said arms to maintain a given angular adjustment, and a flat, tapered page-retaining finger carried by the free end of each arm and positioned to engage and retain the confronting open pages of said book when the supporting tube is mounted on said book, each page-retaining finger being formed of transparent flexible plastic to permit turning of the book pages without moving said arms from their adjusted positions and to permit reading of the print underlying said finger.

5. A place holder for books comprising a cylindrical hollow supporting tube, a first retaining clip mounted on the upper end portion of said tube and comprising a fiex ible wire bent to form a resilient finger extending downwardly along the supporting tube and spaced therefrom, a second retaining clip slidably mounted at the lower end of said supporting tube and comprising a flexible wire having an elongated body portion mounted for longitudinal sliding movement within said hollow supporting tube and terminating in a bent U-shaped portion providing a resilient finger extending upwardly along the elongated portion and spaced therefrom, the opposite end of said body portion being formed with a resiliently compressible bight frictionally engaging the inner wall of said supporting tube, said retaining clips being sized to embrace the upper and lower edge portions of the binding of a book with the resilient fingers thereof engaging and gripping the juncture between the open pages of said book and the supporting tube extending along the spine of said book, the straight elongated portion of said second retaining clip being frictionally slidable inwardly and outwardly of said supporting tube to selectively position the U-shaped portion of said retaining clip for different sized books, a pair of arms pivotally mounted at the top of said supporting tube and extending radially therefrom in vertically and laterally offset relationship, means for frictionally restraining rotation of said arms to maintain a given angular adjustment, a flat, tapered, flexible page-retaining finger carried by the free end of each arm and positioned to engage and retain the confronting open pages of said book when the supporting tube is mounted on said book, and a stop on one of said arms projecting into the path of the other arm to limit rotation of said arms toward each other and thereby prevent inversion thereof, said stop being so placed for said fingers to be substantially in alignment when said oifset arms are rotated as near each other as permitted by said stop to allow said book to be closed nearly flat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Aug. 5, 1926 

